Nurses 'face daily violence'

FOUR out of ten nurses have been assaulted at work in the last three years, according to a survey out today.

But only 4 per cent have received support from their NHS trusts in pressing charges against their attackers, according to the research by the Nursing Times.

Nurses described being kicked, punched, slapped, bitten, stabbed, head-butted and sworn at on a daily basis, the poll showed.

A quarter were offered training in aggression management following incidents with violent patients, but just one in ten were offered counselling. Many of the 1,500 taking part in the survey expressed anger and felt they had been let down by their employers.

The poll severely undermines Government promises to cut attacks on medical staff by 20 per cent.

Alison Whyte, deputy editor of the Nursing Times, said: "We are not saying that the majority of the general public are violent towards nurses at all, but a significant minority are

"But any example of violence towards nurses and other health staff is unacceptable."

One trust surveyed by the magazine could not cite a single case in which action had been taken against an attacker, even though it had recorded more than 400 violent incidents against staff over the past year.

Most nurses blamed the rise in violence on a corresponding increase in alcohol consumption, particularly in young people.